For the past few months I’ve been recovering from burnout.
It turns out having a stressful job, with a toddler, during a global pandemic, was in fact unsustainable.
The last few years have felt like treading water in a flood.
I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve had the opportunity to step away from my career for a few months. Putting down that stone, so to speak, has allowed me to catch my breath.
And now that I am feeling refreshed, I’m ready to start building back into my career.
Great timing on my part.
By “great timing” I mean its been an absolute catastrophe in terms of layoffs in the games industry.
I haven’t seen things this bad since the Great Financial Crisis of ‘08.
And while I can quote the cyclical nature of the business cycle vs. risk/reward of game development, in practical terms it’s going to be a long time before I expect to see meaningful industry-wide growth in the games industry.
*And it’s not just the games industry. Entertainment industries writ large are seeing long-term systemic issues explode into acute crisis.
SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes, the long history of burnout and low pay in animation studios.
Across the board we’re seeing shifting currents that’s drowning creative workers in the undertow.*
With these macro forces at play, what am I supposed to do?
The thing I’ve been focusing on is a personal emphasis on consistency over intensity.
I tend to have an all-or-nothing approach to… just about everything. Maximum effort, a laser focus on the task at hand- you get the idea.
That intensity of purpose is a superpower in some contexts.
I spent six years on-call for a litany of live services critical to my companies success: I’ve seen my share of late-night emergencies.